Syria : In the line of fire

A Syrian exile Farid Gadhri (like Iraq's Chalabi) already came handy for a regime change. Gadhri has since been lobbying for the pending 'Syria Liberation Act' which would involve the Bush Administration to commit to undertake regime change in Damascus. A neo conservative lobby group -- Committee on the Present Danger (CPD) established in August, 2004 -- invited Gadhri to a symposium in collaboration with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies (FDD) created two days after 9/11 and whose views reflect those of die hard pro-Israel activists like Richard Pearle, former CIA director James Woolsey and former US ambassador to UN Jean Kirk Patrick.

Now Mr Rafik Hariri's killing in Lebanon has come as a Godsent opportunity for the hawks in the US administration in increasing pressure on Syria whose inveterate opposition to Israel has earned her the distinction of 'unusual and extraordinary threat'.

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The US already imposed ban on Syria's export and severed banking relations with Syria's commercial banks and froze its assets. The blatant manner in which president Bush is exploiting Hariri's assassination leaves one in no doubt that he regards it as an opportunity for him to act as a judge, jury and an executioner. More so when Syria has 15,000 of her troops stationed in Lebanon. Although the troops were dispatched there at the request of then Lebanese President the nationalist elements of the country resent their presence in Lebanon.

Syria is suddenly in the dock facing the accusations of supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction, being in complicity with Iran, supporting Iraqi insurgents and now of the assassination of Mr. Hariri. The statements of King Abdullah of Jordan and President Ghazi Al-Yawer of Iraq claiming that 'foreign fighters are coming across the Syrian border that have been trained in Syria' have been given wide publicity in US media.

The campaign against Syria has since been gathering momentum. The analysts associated with the FDD and other rightwing thinktanks are painting a scary scenario of Syria's potential for mischief and are openly urging the administration to take military action against Syria for its alleged "material support to terrorist groups killing American soldiers in Iraq". "Syria is a hostile regime. We had sweet talk and tough talk. Talk has failed. We now need to take action to punish and deter Assad's regime" is the refrain. Recent editorials and articles in influential US papers like The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Washington Times have recommended military action against Syria. The administration is accordingly raising pressure on Damascus. It is a matter of time when and how the opening salvos for Syria will be fired.

The ominous developments obtaining with regard to Syria clearly suggest that neocons have Syria as their immediate target. Renowned rightist columnist and a former presidential candidate against Ronald Reagon, Pat Buchanan has exposed the true agenda of the neocons: "To neocons the war was never about WMDs or alleged Iraqi ties to 9/11. The real reason was empire and making the Middle East safe for Israel. The neocons' agenda means escalation; enlarging the Army, more troops in Iraq, widening the war to Syria and Iran and indefinite occupation of Middle East, as we forcibly change the mindset of the Islamic world to embrace democracy and Israel".

Bush's reelection is regarded by the cabal surrounding him as an endorsement of their policy of truculent unilateralism and in the right of Israel to their Biblical boundaries which they are keen to redraw. In the meantime they give damn to the fact "that never in history" -- according to Schlesinger, Kennedy's national security adviser -- "has the republic been so unpopular abroad, so mistrusted, feared, even hated."

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.